I listened to this audio book in one long session while driving from Atlanta back to Nebraska. I'm a long time listener to her "In Bed With Susie Bright" series here on Audible so it was great hearing more of her background. Susie read sections of the book on her show so I was ready to hear the whole thing.

Susie's memoir very pleasantly occupied 12 hours of the trip but I wish it was longer. First because the drive was longer than 12 hours and I didn't have another audio book to listen to. Second because I felt there were gaps in the story and areas I wish were fleshed out more.

If you like "Big Sex Little Death" I recommend two other Susie Bright books, Sexual Reality and Mommy's Little Girl, I recently discovered here on Audible. They fill in some the gaps in the memoir and enhance the Susie Bright story.

The Secret of Abdu El Yezdi: Burton & Swinburne, Book 4

Burton and Swinburne return in a new series! The Beast is coming. History will be remade. Since the assassination of Queen Victoria in 1840, a cabal of prominent men - including King George V, HRH Prince Albert, Benjamin Disraeli, and Isambard Kingdom Brunel - has received guidance from the afterlife. The spirit of a dead mystic, Abdu El Yezdi, has helped them to steer the empire into a period of unprecedented peace and creativity. But on the eve of a groundbreaking alliance with the newly formed Greater German Confederation, scientists, surgeons, and engineers are being abducted - including Brunel!

I thought book 3 of the series had to be the end so finding a book 4 available really surprised me. I took a quick look at some the reviews and decided to take a chance. "The Secret of Abdu El Yezdi" turned out to be my second favorite of the series (I think the first was the best overall despite some "first novel" glitches). I've always liked variations on a theme and the author was able to spin out some great ones in this book. His writing technique has improved over the years and but his ability to weave alternate history (alternate histories of alternate histories?) with steampunk remains as fresh as ever.

The narration also remained strong. I am a picky listener when it comes of hokey or overblown accents so I appreciate Gerald Doyle's expertise with them.

One hundred years before Ender's Game, the aliens arrived on Earth with fire and death. Earth Afire by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston is the story of the First Formic War. Victor Delgado beat the alien ship to Earth, but just barely. Not soon enough to convince skeptical governments that there was a threat. They didn’t believe that until space stations and ships and colonies went up in sudden flame. And when that happened, only Mazer Rackham and the Mobile Operations Police could move fast enough to meet the threat.

I would have preferred a reading of the story instead of the attempt to use various accents. The worse by far were the chapters with the surviving free miners wives. I think the reader in this section was trying for a Academy Award for "Best 'R" Rolling". Since one of the characters was named Reina (Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreina) I almost gave up listening at this point. I understand what the narrators were trying to do, but it was too often overdone and took me out of the story.

Other than the narration, I enjoyed the story. Since the prequel series started last year, I've been going back and re-reading the original novels. And I can recommend the Audible version of "Ender's Game"

Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas

Ensign Andrew Dahl has just been assigned to the Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid, flagship of the Universal Union since the year 2456. Life couldn’t be better…until Andrew begins to pick up on the facts that (1) every Away Mission involves some kind of lethal confrontation with alien forces; (2) the ship’s captain, its chief science officer, and the handsome Lieutenant Kerensky always survive these confrontations; and (3) at least one low-ranked crew member is, sadly, always killed.

This book was on my wish list for quite a while. I was fascinated by the concept, but am not a Wil Wheaton fan at all based on his Star Trek persona. But I finished the "Old Man's War" series and I needed a new fix of Scalzi, so decided to buy "Redshirts". And am glad I did.

The concept of the story plays off the original Star Trek episodes where semi-anonymous Ensigns, wearing red shirts, were killed off while on away missions. I won't go into details so I don't ruin the surprises, but Scalzi does a great job translating this idea to an universe where this is a fact of life for a group of junior officers on a space vessel. I did wonder if he would be able to sustain the premise for an entire book and am happy to report that he could.

I also noticed that the author included three codas to the end of the books. At first, I feared they would be "alternate endings" but turned out to be enhancements to the main story.

And as much as I didn't like Wil Wheaton as Ensign Crusher (the character should have been given a red shirt and sent on a away mission early in the series), I have to admit he did a great job. Based on this performance, I went on to also purchase "Fuzzy Nation" by the same performer/author.

A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1

In a time long forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons off balance. In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. As the cold returns, sinister forces are massing beyond the protective wall of the kingdom of Winterfell. To the south, the king's powers are failing, with his most trusted advisor mysteriously dead and enemies emerging from the throne's shadow.

I joined the Game of Thrones bandwagon late after Season 1 was already available on iTunes and Season 2 was in progress, but was instantly hooked. After watching seasons 1 & 2 I wanted to read or listen to the original novels. Due to my work schedule at the time, I decided to try out the audible book version.

Although I am a Roy Dotrice fan going back to his performance in Amadeus, I couldn't connect with his reading of this book. His voice sounded far too "plummy" to me and made it hard for me to keep in the story. I found my self wishing he read it in his Leopard Mozart voice. It's a matter of taste I suppose, but after this experience I went and bought the print books to complete the series.

First published in 2001, American Gods became an instant classic, an intellectual and artistic benchmark from the multiple-award-winning master of innovative fiction, Neil Gaiman. Now discover the mystery and magic of American Gods in this 10th anniversary edition. Newly updated and expanded with the author's preferred text, this commemorative volume is a true celebration of a modern masterpiece by the one, the only, Neil Gaiman.

The original Audible version of "American Gods" was one of my first purchases in my Audible account. I loved the original and it got me addicted to Neil Gaiman. So when I saw the 10th Anniversary full cast production I was very hesitant to buy it since the original was so good. But I'm glad I bought it.

Some reviewers mention that they don't like full cast versions. I'll admit I don't usually get full cast Audible books which is probably strange since in high school and college I often listened to recordings of old classic radio dramatizations. But I decided to give it a try.

It turned out that I enjoyed this version as much as I did the original and the written book. The casting worked for me and I devoured this recording far too quickly.

The Wind Through the Keyhole: The Dark Tower

In The Wind Through the Keyhole, Stephen King has returned to the rich landscape of Mid-World. This story within a story within a story finds Roland Deschain, Mid-World’s last gunslinger, in his early days during the guilt-ridden year following his mother’s death. Sent by his father to investigate evidence of a murderous shape-shifter, a "skin-man", Roland takes charge of Bill Streeter, a brave but terrified boy who is the sole surviving witness to the beast’s most recent slaughter.

Amazon Customer says:"An exceptional story, but I miss George Guidall."

Since the early 80's I've read every Stephen King novel as soon as it came out. Which means I waited a long time to get through the main Dark Tower series. But while I was happy to hear that a new novel would be coming out, I was worried it would be the "Godfather 3" of the series. Fortunately, I think the new novel fit right into the overall series and I was happy Mr. King decided to revisit his old stomping grounds.

Unlike many of the reviewers, I didn't find his narration to be all that bad. Stephen King is definitely not a professional level actor - he has proven that multiple times - but I thought he did an adequate job in this case.

A Canticle for Leibowitz

Winner of the 1961 Hugo Award for Best Novel and widely considered one of the most accomplished, powerful, and enduring classics of modern speculative fiction, Walter M. Miller’s A Canticle for Leibowitz is a true landmark of 20th-century literature—a chilling and still-provocative look at a postapocalyptic future.

A Canticle for Leibowitz has been a favorite for years. I started reading science fiction in the late sixties and this was one of the earliest ones I read. My adult son recently read this and I was going to read it again so we could discuss. Before I could read it, I saw a recommendation for the Audible book version and decided to give it a try. And was glad I did. The narrator an outstanding job bringing the novel to life.

I enjoyed this so much that I listened to it in only a couple of days. Guess I need to find a longer Audible book to listen to so my choice lasts until my next credit arrives.

Year Zero: A Novel

Low-level entertainment lawyer Nick Carter thinks it's a prank, not an alien encounter, when a redheaded mullah and a curvaceous nun show up at his office. But Frampton and Carly are highly advanced (if bumbling) extraterrestrials. And boy, do they have news. The entire cosmos, they tell him, has been hopelessly hooked on humanity's music ever since "Year Zero" (1977 to us), when American pop songs first reached alien ears. This addiction has driven a vast intergalactic society to commit the biggest copyright violation since the Big Bang.

It's rare that I laugh out loud to audio books, but "Year Zero" caused me to several times. But I've worked in the IT business for the last 14 years so I'm probably the target audience for this book.

I'm reluctant to discuss most of my favorite parts since I don't want to publish spoilers, but will mention that I loved the return of Clippy. I spent a lot of time early in my IT career helping end users get rid of him, so it was great to see Clippy make an appearance in the book.

John Hodgman was the perfect choice to narrate and did an outstanding job. I'm glad I took a chance on this audio book.

The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man: Burton & Swinburne, Book 2

When a clockwork-powered man of brass is found abandoned in Trafalgar Square, Burton and his assistant, the wayward poet Algernon Swinburne, find themselves on the trail of the stolen Garnier Collection - black diamonds rumored to be fragments of the Lemurian Eye of Naga, a meteorite that fell to Earth in prehistoric times. His investigation leads to involvement with the media sensation of the age: the Tichborne Claimant, a man who insists that he's the long lost heir to the cursed Tichborne estate.

I've now listened to all three books in the Burton and Swinburne series. To me, this was the weakest story of the three. The narration was the same excellent quality as the others, and the author did smooth out some of his "first novel" rough spots. But the overall story was not as interesting as the other two. The storyline was necessary to transition from the first book to the third, but that doesn't necessarily make it interesting.

A young woman named Aomame follows a taxi driver's enigmatic suggestion and begins to notice puzzling discrepancies in the world around her. She has entered, she realizes, a parallel existence, which she calls 1Q84 - "Q" is for "question mark". A world that bears a question....

I started to listen to this one right after I bought it, and just couldn't get hooked. I've read several Murakami novels before and knew going it it might be one of those books that is better to read than to listen to. So after listening to about an hour of it I went on to other very good Audible books.

So several months later I was out of credits and had read everything else, so decided to give 1Q84 a second chance. And really glad I did. This time the hook set and I fell in love with the story. And with the multiple narrators.

The book chapters are broken to be from the perspective of different characters after a while you can directly relate the character to the narrator. Works fantastically with a complex novel like this. But it did lead to the only very minor complaint I had. There is a TV tax collector character in the story that originally fell into the story line of the main female character. The narrator did such a convincing job of acting the collector's lines that when the tax collector showed up in another characters storyline and narrator, I found it disappointing. But given the structure of the novel and the narration scheme, it really couldn't be avoided I guess.

Your report has been received. It will be reviewed by Audible and we will take appropriate action.

Can't wait to hear more from this listener?

You can now follow your favorite reviewers on Audible.

When you follow another listener, we'll highlight the books they review, and even email* you a copy of any new reviews they write. You can un-follow a listener at any time to stop receiving their updates.

* If you already opted out of emails from Audible you will still get review emails by the listeners you follow.